An: So I've been thinking of MAYbe changing the title of this from "Confessions of a Queen and her Knight" to "Confessions of a Queen and her Hero" just because Link isn't REALLY a knight...I think I was going to have him be like a real knight but he turned into a bodyguard instead, but if it doesn't bother anyone than I might just keep it that way because he's kind of like a knight. He's no noble, but his Hero status has raised him up to a "sir" Link, or at least some people call him that. Another thing is I feel like I should make the summary better than it is but I don't know what to say.

And lastly, I kinda want to put a cover picture on here, but I don't want to do it myself. LOL I know I'm an artist, that's what I went to school for, but some reason I just can't get myself to do fanart. It's not a pride thing, I simply can't do it. I don't like my drawing style or something I don't even know. I just can't do it. But if any of you can draw and is willing to give me permission to use something as a cover or whatever, that would be kinda super cool. But you are already super cool for reading my fanfic, so there's no obligation!

-Link

"Fuck! Fuck it!"

Epona flattened her ears at me as if disapproving of my language. I dragged her out of the stables, reluctant to mount her in fear I'd kick her too hard in my anger. Having her walk beside me was more calming. I listened to her foot falls besides me on the cobble stone.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4...

She dropped her head when she sensed me start to relax and we walked together out of town.

'Be a good man.'

How many times have I been told that by people I held in the highest regards, people I respected and looked up to? I was suppose to be the good guy, to be the hero.

I never had a father, but there had been people that had felt like fathers to me. They taught me lessons and handed down their wisdom before each and everyone of them had past on. I wanted to follow their words. I wanted to be someone they could be proud of. I had always tried to be a good person. I had always tried to help the people around me. I had never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to make everyone happy.

But of all the people that I respected and wanted to make proud of me, the most important person I looked up to, had always been Princess Zelda. In my eyes, the princess could do no wrong. She was so charming and smart. Everything she said seemed to make sense and be right. Even after she had performed a mistake, I blindly followed her. If I did what she said, things would work out. Maybe I was the legendary Hero, but without Zelda's guidance I wouldn't have been able to do half of what I had done.

Zelda was good. Zelda always knew what the right thing to do was. As much as I wanted to keep our relationship as it currently stood, it was wrong and Zelda didn't do wrong. As much as it hurt me every time in the past, when she refused me time after time again, it was alright because I knew she was doing the right thing.

I hadn't meant to hurt Mary. I had failed to be a good person. I hadn't followed Zelda's wishes exactly as she told me to and I failed. It took me a while, but I eventually dragged my shameful ass back to her to have her fix the mistake I had made.

I had expected her to be extremely disappointed in me. I was extremely disappointed in myself. That's why it took me so long to face her. I knew I would deserve it, when she told me to leave the castle and never come back. She would allow me to redeem myself and be the father I was suppose to be. She would make it right when I couldn't.

But not only was I hurting Mary. I was hurting Zelda and it was too much for me to take. I hadn't expected Zelda wanting me to stay. I didn't think she could feel much more for me than hate. Not after I told her the truth.

But she told me to stay.

I knew it was wrong. She knew it was wrong and yet that was her command, 'Stay.' I never had this sort of dilemma before. Zelda's wishes always seemed to be the right thing to do, but now I had to choose between being a good person and making Zelda happy.

The choice should have been obvious.

The right thing to do.

But...

Zelda being selfish was baffling. I felt like I should looked down on her decision, but I didn't feel disgusted at all. I almost felt relief. Sure our private accouters were rather selfish of her in the first place, but I always had the impression, whenever I was happy, Zelda was purposely doing it so I would be happy. Maybe that was selfish, thinking she did all this for my benefit. It was so hard for me to grasp the concept that there was a possibility that maybe her feelings for me where anywhere close to what I felt for her. But if that was the case, if she really did want me so much that she was willing to discard all that was good, then maybe-Fuck!

This was hard.

I had loved and respected the good in her. All of this should have been a turn off, but it just made me want her more. The proof that she was human for once, just like me, should mean we were meant for each other. We had been good all the other times. We had worked so hard for so long. If she was feeling what I was feeling, I could understand, what it felt to reach that breaking point, to not give a shit anymore and just really need something. And I was not going to deny her anything.

But of course that still meant I had the Mary problem. The question wasn't if I was going to leave Zelda or not. I wasn't going to leave her. It was if I was going to stay with Mary or not.

After enough walking, I climbed on top of Epona, and instead of continuing home, I rode out no where. I hadn't ridden Epona hard in a long time and I could feel her excitement with each stride she took. I pushed her, concentrating on nothing, but riding for a while. I didn't stop until her entire body was drenched in sweat.

She blew from her nose, still excited though I knew she couldn't keep going at that pace without hurting herself. I let her walked it off as we headed for home.

When I finally did get in the house, the first words I heard were, "You're later than ever."

I looked up at Mary. Thankfully her beloved mother had already gone to bed.

"I went riding," I said.

"You've never done that before."

I gave her a look. "How'd you know?"

"You've never been this late before."

"I went riding for longer." I realized Mary was going to start noticing the times I came home from now on. She would see that some nights I would be later than others. She would start to worry and get suspicious. She would start turning into someone she swore she would never turn into.

"Well why are you always coming back at different times?"

"What are you talking about? I usually get home before you."

"Well now that I'm home all the time I've noticed."

I was suddenly annoyed. I didn't know if I could stand living here anymore. What reason did I really have to stay? "What are you doing?" I asked angrily and turned around to face her.

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're asking me all these questions! I don't ask you questions all the time."

"Well I haven't given you any reason to, or you would be asking them!"

"You have given me plenty of reason to ask questions, Mary. I've just chosen to not ask them because it's none of my business."

"Why are you getting all angry now?"

"Why are you all of sudden caring where I am?"

"Because I don't trust you!" She finally admitted.

"Then why do you want me to fucking stay here if you don't trust me?" My voice was so quiet compared to hers, and it wasn't really like she was yelling. The quietness of my voice seem to freeze Mary on the spot.

"Because-"

"If you don't trust me, why don't you just let me leave?"

"Do you want to leave?"

I was silent for a moment, moving from my spot to take off my equipment from work. "Maybe."

I could feel Mary watching me, trembling with emotions.

"I mean, what reason do I have to stay here?" I asked. "You don't trust me, Lana's got you and her grandma. I'd be a worthless father anyway."

"But I need you. I would get lonely."

"Mary. You don't need me. Do you even know me? All we've been good for is fucking each other."

"Fuck Link! You've all I got!"

"No I'm not! You hang out with hundreds of guys all the time. You could choose anyone else to be with. Why don't you just go back to fucking Eric!"

Mary actually pushed me. I wasn't expecting it so I fell back slightly, hitting the wall behind me.

"Because fucking Eric is fucking dead!"

I felt something horrible solidify in my stomach.

"Why are you here if you don't want to be? Why don't you just leave and marry the harlot you've been seeing?!"

"I'm sorry," I said. Tears spilled from her eyes. "I'm sorry!" I repeated if that would just make her stop crying.

"Why won't you just go marry her?" she whimpered again.

I couldn't tell her the real reason, for risk of reveling Zelda's identity. So I just said something stupid. "Because I married you."

I don't know what she thought that meant, but she wrapped her arms around me and cried.

My mother in law would find more and more things that I was apparently terrible at. "You're carrying her haphazardly! That's why she's always so unhappy all the time!" She grabbed my daughter out of my arms. "Little bounces makes Lana happy, don't it?" The older woman proceeded to shake the infant up and down, but it only seem to make the baby cry even more. I looked at Lana, silently sending her my sincerest apologies that she had such an unpleasant grandmother.

There was a knock on the door.

"Well?" The older woman glared at me. "Go get the door!"

I was reluctant to leave her with Lana, but I did what I was told. I answered the front door.

I was surprised to see Lance at my doorstep. "What's wrong?" I asked, automatically assuming the worst. Zelda wasn't with him. I felt myself begin to panic.

"Nothing," he waved his hand. "Calm down. Are you busy?"

"No," I answered. We were about to eat dinner, but I wasn't really looking forward to that. We rarely had dinner together and it was going to be awkward and unpleasant, no matter how much Mary said it would be good for us.

"Oh that's great."

The two of us stood there for a moment. I was waiting for Lance to tell me why he was here. Maybe Lance was waiting for me to invite him inside, but for his sake, I was slow on the invitation.

"The Queen gave me the day off," he finally explained.

"Oh. That was nice of her."

"Yea, it was real nice. She was also nice enough to claim that I was friendless and would do nothing with my time off except sleep the day away."

There was another pause.

"And she was fucking right! I have nothing to do! I tried to sleep, man. I really tried. But I couldn't do it, and there's no one I could hang out with, because she's right! I don't have any friends!"

I grinned and chuckled slightly. "I'm your friend, Lance."

He clutched his fits together in silent victory. "Yes..." He turned away from me to shout at nothing. "TAKE THAT BITCH! FRIEND NUMBER TWO!" He whirled around to face me. "Sorry. Had to get that out of my system."

"Hey of course! You've been doing me favors forever. Of course we're friends."

"Exactly! And you don't even pay me!"

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" I asked. I thought I'd probably regret the offer, but I didn't want to turn Lance away after he came all the way over here.

"Is it free?"

"I'm your friend of course it's free."

Suddenly, doom was standing behind me. "Oh, and what do we have here? What a handsome man!" She turned to glare at me. "What are you doing boy? Just making him stand on our doorstep! Not even inviting him for dinner?! Come in, come in!"

I sighed. Just ignore it, Link... Just ignore it.

"Why thank you!" Lance said as he came into the house. "What a lovely young lady! You must be Link's wife!"

My mother in law blushed before waving her hand. "Oh no, I would never marry this dirt bag... You must be thinking of my daughter! She's just as lovely as I, I must say."

"Oh I wouldn't doubt it!'

Lance followed my mother in law deeper into the house and I decided to go look for Mary. Staying with these two would most likely be an entire conversation of Link bashing, and I got the impression that Lance was going to be able to hold his own with the woman anyway, so I deemed it safe to leave him.

"Mary?" I called into the bedroom.

"What?!" She called back nastily. She had been pretty bitchy all day when I first told her I didn't want to eat dinner as a family. I don't know why she cared so much since obviously I was going to eat dinner with the rest of the family if I liked it or not.

"We got company."

"That's nice. I don't care."

"It's Lance, the Queen's guard. He's looking for friends so be nice to him."

"I'm always nice," she glared at me before leaving the bedroom to go greet him.

"Lance, this is my daughter Mary!" Mary's mother took her by the shoulders and presented her to Lance, though the two had met previously.

"She's like you said, if not even more beautiful!" said Lance politely.

I saw Mary look away shyly. It made me annoyed. Mary never got flustered, and it should have been obvious that Lance was just being polite. "How charming of you to say," she finally answered. "Please take a seat. Dinner is almost ready."

And just like I suspected, dinner was awkward.

"So what brings such a lovely man to our table?" asked my mother in law.

"I'm on vacation, so I thought I'd visit my pal, Link."

"And what is it that you do?"

"Well," Lance laughed. "I don't want to brag, but I happen to be the Queen's personal bodyguard."

"Oh wow, what an honor it is to have you here at our humble table! A bodyguard, did you hear that Mary? He must be very physically fit."

"Oh yes," Mary replied, distracted. She was too busy staring at Lance. I couldn't understand it. Not once had she made any sort of indication that she had interest in him before.

"Well I mean, it's not all that exciting," Lance continued. He had also noticed the way Mary kept staring at him and he seemed to be uncomfortable about the fact. "Actually, my life is quite dull and boring and I don't really have any friends."

"What makes you say that?" asked Mary in alarmed.

"Well Link here's my bud, right?"

"Right," I told him. I rather him not keep pointing me out. I was pretty content with both the women in the room to have their attention directed at him.

"But according to Her Majesty," he muttered.

"What a cruel thing to say," Mary commented.

"Oh she is cruel. Everyone always goes on about how nice and understanding the Queen is," he scuffed a laugh. "She hates everybody."

"You know I got that impression when we ate dinner with the Royals that one time. Do you remember, Link? It truly seemed like she disliked me. And I've never met her before so I see no reason why she would be so mean. But if it's like you say, and she just hates everyone, well she must be a bitch. Oh I'm sorry," she covered her mouth. "I really shouldn't say things like that."

"No, no, no, insult her as must as you like. She's a fucking bitch," Lance went on. "The things she says to me, when all I'm trying to do is help..."

"Sometimes I just want to march up to her and tell her to take that big ol' stick out of her ass."

"Oh Goddesses, I would love you!"

Mary seemed to think too hard on the statement.

"If that were to happen..." Lance corrected. "Which it wouldn't," he started to laugh.

"Well I'll be your friend, Lance!"

"Oh great, you can be number three on my list!"

"I'm a great friend! I'm funny, I'm out going... Link's a good friend too, but you know sometimes he can be a bit boring."

"So Lance, are you married?" asked my mother in law.

"No," Lance answered before abruptly picking up his cup and drinking it slowly.

"Oh well that's a shame," she said, eyeing at Mary. I sighed. "A nice looking man like you shouldn't be single. A single man like you should be seeing a nice girl."

Lance just kept drinking out of that cup.

"Well you know, sometimes single men don't see other women when they should, and non single men do when they shouldn't," Mary said, getting up to replace the platter of meat with more. I ignored the statement. I couldn't help notice that her mother was eating meat tonight.

"Yes, sometimes non single people should just leave their husbands!" her mother went on. "And find tall handsome body guards!" Everyone pretended to laugh and I saw Lance give me a sideways look. It was okay. I was use to it.

Dinner lasted forever. I didn't know Mary could talk so much. Her mother eventually had to excuse herself and go to bed. She hadn't lasted very long, especially after Mary brought out drinks. Alcohol tending to knock the old woman out, thank the Goddesses.

Mary on the other hand, was having a lot to drink, claiming she was making up for lost time during her pregnancy. Eventually she got out her old lute, and her and Lance sang raunchy songs together. The three of us would have had a great time, if it wasn't for the fact that Mary was obviously trying to hit on Lance in front of me.

"I think," she said, taking Lance's hand. "You are way more attractive than you think you are."

Lance laughed at her and took his hand away. "You are also intoxicated."

"I am not!" she laughed. "But really. You're like distinguished. Link, Link's like pretty, but he's still kind of plain looking."

Not one of her jabs bothered me. I don't know if she noticed.

"I'm awkwardly put together. Link is in proportion to himself. That's why Link's a good looking guy. And generally, in living things, the better in proportion, the the better they perform, like in horses."

"Are you saying that you have poor performance in bed?" Mary asked, putting her hand back on Lance's arm, even as he tried to lean away.

"No. I wasn't saying that all. I was thinking of performance as more as fighting and surviving in the wild sort of thing, and not getting eaten." Lance rambled quickly, looking at Mary as if she was going to eat him.

"Well reproduction is a sort of survival."

"For the species in general, but when you think about it, it doesn't do the individual any good."

"Oh don't say that!"

"Well in any case," he said scooting his chair closer over to me and putting an arm around my shoulder. "Link's genes are much better suited to procreating the species than me."

Mary started to laugh her ass off. Lance kept looking at me to help him, but I wasn't really giving a fuck.

"Link's just a fucker," she said. "Let me get you more to drink, Lance!"

"I really shouldn't."

"Psh! Come on! It's your vacation!"

With Lance's help I was eventually able to convince Mary to go to bed, and him and I sat outside to breathe fresh air.

"Wow," Lance said after a moment of silence. "That... was terrible."

"Yea, I'm sorry about that."

"I mean, Mary's nice. But she's fucking crazy, man. They're both fucking crazy. You have to live with that!"

I nodded my head.

"Zelda's fucking crazy but at least she's just one person, and not a whole family of fucking crazy people!"

"Well Mary seemed to really like you," I said.

"I'm really sorry about that. I tried to back her down. Do you mind if I smoke? The Queen never lets me smoke."

"Go ahead."

I watch him roll a cigarette with shaking hands. He burst out laughing once he was finished. "She kept touching me! Like every five seconds, her hand had to be somewhere on me."

"It's cool. You could keep her if you want."

"Oh no," He lit his cigarette with flint and steal in a way that could only come from practiced skill. "That's your problem. I'm pretty sure I've told you this, but there's no way in hell that I would ever want to switch places with you."

"You could just kill me instead then. Do it right now, right here. That would be fine by me."

He blew some smoke from his mouth before grinning at me. "And have me risk the Queen's fury? I don't think so. Besides you're one of the few friends on my list. And I'm in desperate need of male friends. Too much bitchin' as it is. Can you believe it? The Queen doesn't think I'm her friend? Do you think I would listen to her moaning all of the time just because she paid me? No money in the world is worth all that shit!"

"Zelda doesn't like to get close to people," I said, sliding down more in my chair to get comfortable. "Don't take it personally. It's a defense mechanism she has."

"She's fine getting close to you."

"I'm an exception," I told him.

"You're just hot, that's the reason."

"Really. Zelda's lost a lot of people close to her. She feels if she admits she likes you, you'll wind up dead or something."

Lance gave me a long stare in consideration. "She tell you this?"

"No, but I can tell." Zelda had lost her parents a thousand times and again. I've always been lucky. I never knew my parents, but Zelda always had a strong connection to hers, especially to her fathers. Almost always, she got to watch them die far too young, but old enough for it to be painful. Loosing her mother so often, Zelda would almost always have a nurse maid with her; Impa. Her name was always Impa.

Impa was one of the people who confused me in all this reincarnation business. I was never able to figure it out. Was the nanny reincarnated with us? And if so, why wasn't she always around when we where? Zelda said their were times when she believed herself to be reincarnated without me, though I didn't want to admit it, but I thought it was more likely that something bad had just happened to me and I didn't show up when I needed to. Maybe sometimes, people like Impa just didn't get to where they were suppose to be in time. But then sometimes, at least I've noticed with other people that I've suspected to be reincarnated as well, there comes a time when that particular person just stops being reincarnated and is gone. I didn't know how it happens. Maybe they weren't able to reproduce an heir or what, but they're just gone and they didn't come back. At least I hadn't seen sign of them in a very long time.

It would drive me crazy. These other people never seemed to have past memories, but maybe I just never knew them long enough for them to remember again. You would think Zelda would know if Impa was in fact a reincarnated Impa. I had never asked, since something the very name of her formal nurse maid would upset her. There was no Impa in this life time. There hadn't been one for awhile now.

I looked at Lance and realized the implications of how much he probably meant to Zelda. He had most likely replaced that important figure in her life. Who else did she have in this life time? Her parents had died in a train wreak. It had been an assassin attempt on the entire family, and Zelda had only managed to survive protected by her dead mother's body. Her uncle had taken up raising her, but right before her wedding date, he had a heart attack and past during the night.

She had been so upset that she had no one to walk her down the aisle, that it was all she was concerned about for an entire week. From an outsider's point of view, she may have seemed petty that she was more upset on that little fact than she was of the actual death of her relative. But I knew, it was how she hid her feelings. That's why she was nasty to Lance. She was hiding her feelings.

I remembered I had volunteered to walk her down the aisle. Her face the entire time was so cold like a stature of marble, and her dressed in white, she looked like the goddess she was. I tried to mimic her, showing no emotion as I gave my goddess away to her soon to be husband.

I felt my chest constrict remembering the last desperate look she gave me.

We were silent for a long time, lost in our own thoughts. I didn't know how much time past before Lance spoke again, already half way down through his cigarette. "You know," he laughed. "One thing I am a little jealous about is that you get to fuck two women at the same fucking time. They're crazy as shit but, I mean, I haven't been laid in ten years."

I was a little surprise Lance admitted what he said to me, though I had imagined that was most likely the case for him. His job was demanding. He really didn't have his own life.

He continued to laugh. "And guess who it was!"

"I really don't know."

"Annabell."

"Annabell? Isn't that one of Zelda's attendants?"

"Yea, the one that looks like a mouse and wears fucking yellow all the time. Fucking yellow..."

Now that surprised me. Annabell was shy and a little prude at times. She wasn't the type of person that I thought would be into a person like Lance. "Really?"

"I know right? She's not even hot. But man, we were really desperate and really drunk, but mostly a lot of desperate. At least I was." He was laughing so hard he was having trouble speaking. "We had to... We had to keep our eyes closed because we didn't find each other attractive at all!" He continued laughing as he started to remember it. "We had to pretend we were someone else, so she pretended I was Hylia's Chosen Hero."

"What?"

"I know, weird, and I pretended she was the Goddess Din, because out of all the Goddesses, Din is by far, the hottest."

I started to laugh.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me! You're suppose to be my friend!" He threw his cigarette butt at me. "This is trusted information that you're not allowed to tell anyone!"

"I won't tell anyone."

"You better not be judging me either."

"I am not judging."

"Because I know, you don't understand what it's like, since you're getting fucking laid all the time, but sometimes when you're desperate, a fucking tree stump looks hot."

"I... have never fucked a tree stump before," I admitted

"Me neither! I didn't say that I did, you stupid Hylian!" He kicked my chair. "I'm saying I've thought about it, because you know what tree stumps don't do? They don't bitch. And Annabell had to bitch and get all upset afterwards, even though it was clear from the beginning that it wasn't suppose to mean anything, and then she gets fucking married! If it really meant that much to her why did she go and get married?"

I watched Lance with sad eyes as understanding came over me. "I'm sorry," I said.

"About what? Obviously she's over it if she got married right? So the problem got solved." He started rolling another cigarette.

"I know what it's like... Watching someone you love get married to someone else."

"Whoa, what? First off, the concept of me being in love would have to mean I had feelings, which I don't. Second of all, Annabell isn't even my type in the first place! She doesn't look a thing like the Goddess Din. I have very high expectations, and frankly, Annabell would never had made the cut."

"You know," I said leaning into my chair. "The Goddess Din is suppose to be a redhead."

"Yea, so?"

"Mary just happens to have red hair."

"Oh no you fucking don't! She's your fucking problem."

"But she seems to like you a lot."

"I'm not blind Link. She was obvious just using me to make you jealous. Did you not notice that everything she said to me, she'd look at you for a reaction? I know what it's liked to be used. I get used all the time. And besides," he said kicking away the ashes that he had made. "Mary would come with two extra crazy family members. I can't have a family."

"I'm sure you could work something out with Zelda in order to have a family."

"I don't want a family. I told you this, Link. I do not envy you. Not only do you have to deal with Mary, but you have to deal with her crazy bitter mother. And when you're daughter gets older you're gonna have to deal with that too."

"Lana's been a pretty easy baby so far."

"Right now, all you have to deal with is crying, but soon she's gonna be talking and walking and getting in all sorts of trouble and asking for money. I never have to worry about any of that."

"Well man, I don't know what we're going to do then."

"Tree stumps. That's what I've been saying. Tree stumps are the way to go."

We were silent for another moment. "You see," I said. "That just sounds painful."

"Okay. If you're not into that that's cool. You know the other idea I had was just start seeing men."

I turned to look at him. "Not you, dude." He said frantically. "I have a very delicate friendship bond with you right now, that I feel like is slipping away the more I talk to you. But I'm saying in general, guys don't bitch as much as girls."

I laughed as I studied him. "Were you drinking a lot at dinner?" Not that I thought Lance might liking men was the alcohol talking, but I had never known him to be this personal.

"I can't remember," he said looking straight out in front of him. "Don't ask me that. Also, just forget this entire conversation. Forget I even came here."

"Well you can come here again if you ever have another vacation."

"Thanks, man. Where I can just continually stick my foot in my mouth constantly, and have your wife throw herself at me."

"Yea I'm sorry. You don't have to come back."

"Yea, I mean, getting hit on is so annoying. I wish I wasn't so Goddess damn attractive!" He said sarcastically, letting out a short laugh. We sat there in silence again while Lance smoked another cigarette.

I was looking for Zelda. I ran through a maze of stone walls and up staircase after staircase. It was always a maze. I was always looking for her. But this time, it was much more important. Zelda was pregnant, and He knew if he killed them both, now, Zelda would be gone forever.

I felt like I ran forever before I finally found her. "Zelda!" I screamed when I saw her standing, covered in blood. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, trying to figure out where she was hurt.

"Its dead," she said, her knees buckling and I had to keep her from falling. "The baby's dead." It wasn't something I was concerned with right now. I had to keep her alive. She was bleeding so much, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I was trying to wipe it away with my hands. I couldn't even find the clothe she was wearing, everything seemed to be made of blood. And then that was all she was. She fell right in between my fingers, nothing but thick liquid.

I screamed in horror.

I woke up thrashing in my bed to catch the sight of Mary standing in the other side of the room, looking at me frightened. "Are you alright?" she asked, once she realized I was awake.

I laid back down in my sweat soaked sheets trying to catch my breath. I wanted to see her. I wanted to see Zelda at that very moment to make sure she was alright, but I knew I couldn't just rush to the castle at this hour. I searched my brain, trying to figure out if the nightmare was a strange memory that wasn't true from my past, but I couldn't remember anything like that. I can remember searching for Zelda, but she had never been pregnant before. I had never known her pregnant.

"Are you alright?" Mary repeated when I hadn't answered.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I said, turning over to my side. "It was just a dream."

"A pretty awful dream. What were you dreaming about?" She came closer to the bed.

"I don't remember," I told her.

"You cried out, 'Zelda'."

Shit.

"Zelda, as in the Queen Zelda?"

"It must have been a dream about something going wrong at work."

"But you guard the King not the Queen."

"Well it was the Queen that got hurt in my dream." Mary climbed into bed next to me. I thought she went back to sleep, but then she asked "Do you usually call the Queen, 'Zelda'?"

"I don't know, Mary. It was just a nightmare. I rather not think about it now." And with that we went back to sleep.

I came home from work to find Mary sitting by herself at the table. I thought about ignoring her. I had been trying to avoid her because our encounters either had her crying or yelling at me. I was going to walk right by her, but I accidentally caught her solemn face.

"I'm sorry, Link."

I stopped to look at her.

"I'm sorry. I told you I would never go through your things," she sniffed.

I felt my body go cold. I couldn't think of what she had found. I just knew it couldn't have been good.

She took out a small photograph she had been hiding underneath her arm and placed it on the table.

I had forgotten I had that. The edges around the photo were marred, yellow and black from water damage, almost catching on fire and whatever else it had survived through. I used to take that thing everywhere with me, no mater where I went. Though it wasn't in great shape, I had kept the image of the figure safe. She sat on her garden bench, looking up from her book, the expression of questioning worry already plastered onto her face. She looked so young there.

"This is a picture of the Queen of Hyrule," Mary stated.

"I know what it is," I said, still not taking my eyes off the little photo.

"Why do you have it?"

"Because I took it. I had a picto box and I just took it. Why does it matter?"

"Because it's the Queen!"

"So?"

"You don't just take pictures of the Queen and get away with it!"

"You already know that the Queen and I are close friends."

"And just how close are you, Link?!"

I hesitated. I didn't know what to say.

"Is she the other woman?" she whispered.

"That picture was taken over ten years ago!" but that was the wrong thing to say. Instead of misdirecting her accusing, her eyes widened.

"For ten years? You've been seeing her for ten years?"

"I didn't say it was her!"

"Who is it then?"

"Why should it matter who it is? I told you my mistake."

She was silent for a moment, thinking over what i said. "If it's the Queen it would have mattered."

"Why?" I was getting angry now. This conversation didn't need to happen. She shouldn't have been going through my stuff. That photo was over ten years old! It didn't mean anything.

"Because!" She stood up angrily. "The Queen, Link! Do you not even realize how dangerous that is?! If you were to get caught, they would have killed you!"

"Well, good thing I didn't say it was the Queen."

"Oh don't give me that bull shit, Link! I saw the way you looked at the photograph! Don't tell me you're just friends! No one looks at a friend like that. You don't even look at me like that. Oh Goddesses!" She sat back down, putting her head in her hands. "Thank the Goddesses that you broke it off when you did."

I said nothing. Unfortunately Mary decided to look up at my guilt ridden face.

"You didn't break it off?!" She got up from her chair again and I turned around walking away. If I stood there, my face would just tell her everything anyway.

"You're still seeing her?! Link!" She grabbed my arm, but I kept walking. She squeezed my wrist, yanking my arm sharply. It hurt. I forgot how strong she was. "Link, look at me and tell me the truth."

I wasn't able to meet her gaze. I stared off into space, my whole body including my brain had gone numb. I didn't think I would be able to say anything at all.

"Are you having an affair with the Queen of Hyrule?"

"Yes."

She shoved me harshly into the wall. "How can you be so stupid, Link!"

"I don't know," I replied stupidly back, still staring off into space.

"Did you go back to her, even after you told me...?"

I didn't need to answer her question. She saw it in my face.

She let out a wail, clutching the front of my shirt. "Why?" her voice cracked. "Why would you do that? Why are you still doing it?"

"I tried... I tried to break it off.." I still couldn't face her.

"Do it now. Tell her tomorrow. Please."

I shook my head. "I can't."

"Yes you can," she cried into my chest. "Even if you don't love me enough to do it. Even if you don't love Lana enough to do it. It's not safe. If they killed you... I need you in this family."

I just kept shaking my head, "I can't. She... I have to... I have to do what she wants." I felt Mary's fingers dig into me, but it felt strange, like I was in a dream and only remembering pain rather than actually feeling it. "She's the Queen. I have to do what she wants."

"No," Mary said into my chest. "You don't have to do what she wants! She doesn't have that authority! It's against the law! Don't be afraid of her. Just leave."

I placed my hands on her arms. "No Mary. I can't."

"Why can't you?!"

"I love her."

Mary pushed herself off of me then. I felt her gaze on my face, but I still couldn't look at her.

"I'm sorry," I said and walked away from her.